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March 03, 2011

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TODAY
July 02, 2014

This content comes from a Full-Text Transcript of the program.

WILLIAMS:Good evening.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:Of all the time bombs in the
American economy
set to explode with dire consequences, this is a big one, staggering debt from
student loans
. Everyone is told a
college education
is a way to get ahead.
College tuitions
, though, keep going up. So does the borrowing. And we just hit an awful milestone. Our nation's combined
student loan
debt has now hit $1 trillion. That averages out to 24,000 per student. It's now larger than credit card debt in this country, and it comes just as an entire generation is just starting out. Today the president suggested one fix. More on that in a moment, but we have two reports to start out with tonight, beginning with
NBC
's
John Yang
in
Chicago
.

Unidentified Woman #1:Nicole Brown
with honors.

JOHN YANG reporting:For millions of college students, the joy of graduation is quickly followed by dread. A new life with old debts.
University of Illinois at Chicago
senior
Andrea Watson
will owe about $40,000 in
student loans
.

Ms. ANDREA WATSON:Mm-hmm. It's very scary to know that before I even get that first real career job, I'm just going to have thousands of thousands of dollars over my head.

YANG:In a new report out today, the
College Board
, which runs the
SATs
, says tuition and fees at four-year private colleges are up 4.4 percent from last year to an average of $28,500, and up 8.3 percent at public schools to more than $8200.

Unidentified Woman #2:I'm the one-hand band.

YANG:With first jobs hard to find and starting salaries falling, frustration is turning to anger.

Unidentified Man #1:What kind of 18-year-old teenager is going to have that kind of money?

Unidentified Woman #3:I'm angry.

Unidentified Man #2:College is a gigantic scam, a scam to get your money.

YANG:It's expressed in a series of
YouTube
videos and at protests across the country sparked by
Occupy Wall Street
.

Mr. TIM WHELDON:I'm in -- constantly in deferment.

YANG:Protester
Tim Wheldon
graduated from
Michigan State University
with an economics degree and $20,000 in debt.

Mr. WHELDON:What's the point of going to school if, A, you can't get a job, B, you can't pay back your
student loans
?

YANG:Analysts say the heavy burden of student debt is a drag on the broader economy. Recent graduates struggling to pay off loans are less likely to take major steps like getting married and buying a house. Still, experts say it's worth the financial pain.

Ms. LAUREN ASHER (Institute for College Access and Success):College is still the best investment you can make in your future and our economy needs more people to go to college.

Ms. WATSON:I don't want to be like my friends who are still living at home, working at like
Walmart
or
Kmart
and can't pay off their
student loans
.

YANG:The new reality for college graduates who find themselves paying the price of an education in more ways than one.
John Yang
, NBC News,
Chicago
.